Speaker 1: Hook Hitched and Hung Up acknowledges the traditional custodians of
Speaker 1: country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community.
Speaker 1: We pay our respect to their elders past and present
Speaker 1: and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Speaker 1: Islander peoples today. This episode was recorded on Wella Medical Land.
Speaker 1: This is Hook, Titched and Hung Up, where we take
Speaker 1: you deep inside those famous love.
Speaker 2: Stories that have shaped us. Like a phoenix rising from
Speaker 2: the ashes. Has the prophecy of movie star Ben Affleck's
Speaker 2: enormous back tattoo come true. He is back together with
Speaker 2: his former fiance and pop icon Jennifer Lopez. Is this
Speaker 2: a redemption story for the ages or a repeat of
Speaker 2: the most sensational breakup of the two thousands waiting to happen?
Speaker 3: Hi?
Speaker 1: The way, they're engaged again and he's given her another
Speaker 1: massive room.
Speaker 2: Now, Ri, I am so excited to dive into this
Speaker 2: relationship because it is a relationship that has spanned over
Speaker 2: two decades. There's one that well in the early two thousands.
Speaker 2: I feel like I was personally quite invested in this.
Speaker 1: Well, I think everyone's quite invested because it was a very,
Speaker 1: very public but very sexy relationship.
Speaker 2: It was a very sexy relationship, wasn't it. But I
Speaker 2: think that that's because Jenne val Opez has always been
Speaker 2: I mean, she's always been pitched as an incredible sex symbol,
Speaker 2: sex goddess.
Speaker 1: And she was without even trying, she was sexy, but
Speaker 1: on top of without trying, she tried like she was
Speaker 1: just a sex goddess.
Speaker 2: She was one of the first celebrities to pose completely
Speaker 2: nude for an ad campaign, so she brought out her
Speaker 2: own fragrance of perfume and there's this really sexy campaign
Speaker 2: that came out, and she's like, I mean, obviously it's
Speaker 2: quite demure in today's standards, it's like everything is covered,
Speaker 2: but it's of the time. It was raunchy as and
Speaker 2: I think that there was so much interest in them
Speaker 2: as a couple because it was kind of thought that
Speaker 2: they were a little bit of a mismatch. And we'll
Speaker 2: get into why that is, and also why Ben Affleck
Speaker 2: feels that this had a lot to do with race
Speaker 2: more than it had to do with them as people.
Speaker 2: To give you guys a bit of a background as
Speaker 2: to who they are and where they slot in together.
Speaker 2: I mean, of course, you all know Jennifer Lopez and
Speaker 2: Ben Affleck. So Jennifer Lopez, she was a singer, she
Speaker 2: was a dancer, she was a fashion icon, a trendsetter,
Speaker 2: an actor and also a producer. Which is annoying how
Speaker 2: many accolades she.
Speaker 1: Had, and I calmed down least some of the rest of.
Speaker 2: Us, where like, we don't even have time to list
Speaker 2: off all the number of awards that she's won, but
Speaker 2: it is literally hundreds. She was nominated for over two
Speaker 2: hundred plus awards. And she grew up in the Bronx
Speaker 2: aka Jenny from the Block.
Speaker 1: That got me through my teenage's I'm I'm still Jennifer
Speaker 1: on the Black because I have a little Now I've
Speaker 1: got two hundred wards.
Speaker 2: And that's also because we don't have rights to play
Speaker 2: for music, so we're just going to sing everything throughout
Speaker 2: this episode. Some of her massive hits on top of
Speaker 2: Jenny from the Bloc were waiting for tonight, if you
Speaker 2: had my Love and let's get loud. And Ben Affleck,
Speaker 2: I mean, I feel like he has had the most
Speaker 2: checked kind of career path. He's been so successful and
Speaker 2: so I didn't realize how much he's also worked as
Speaker 2: a producer and a director as well.
Speaker 1: I think the thing is I don't think he was
Speaker 1: when you look at over the decades, he actually wasn't
Speaker 1: that successful. He was very successful early on, but then
Speaker 1: he went quiet for a long time. He had a
Speaker 1: lot of flops. He didn't actually do a lot. Now
Speaker 1: he's making his comeback. But I feel like, God, I
Speaker 1: feel like our head we're like, oh yeah, he was
Speaker 1: very successful. Oh, there were some low points over the years.
Speaker 2: He was the director for the movie Argo, which won
Speaker 2: an Oscar for Best Picture. But he is also an
Speaker 2: alcoholic and has spent quite a bit of time throughout
Speaker 2: his years in rehab. He's had some extremely up and
Speaker 2: down relationships and also some very very public relationships.
Speaker 1: He used to date Gwyneth Paltrow.
Speaker 2: He obviously went on to date Jennifer Garner and had
Speaker 2: a couple kids with Jennifer Garner. But the relationship we
Speaker 2: are unpacking today is what the hell happened with Jalo
Speaker 2: back in two thousand and two.
Speaker 1: So he went from benefit to benefer hashtag benefit, hashtag
Speaker 1: benefit now hashtag benefer. He's gone predic for Benfy, benefer
Speaker 1: benefit cubed.
Speaker 2: But this is also one of the things right. So
Speaker 2: in two thousand and two he was deemed as Who's
Speaker 2: sexiest man alive? Like he was the abbsute top of
Speaker 2: his game. But prior to that, he kind of describes
Speaker 2: himself as this like tall, he had a bit of
Speaker 2: a pot belly.
Speaker 1: He had a.
Speaker 2: Cracked front tooth, which when he did the movie Pearl Harbor,
Speaker 2: the directors of Pearl Harbor were like, we.
Speaker 1: Will pay to get that fixed.
Speaker 2: So he got his teeth fixed to do the movie
Speaker 2: fair And he never really saw himself as being this huge,
Speaker 2: sexy olpha male. He kind of was a bit more
Speaker 2: of like the tortured artists that came in and out
Speaker 2: of success. So we have to remember that Ben and
Speaker 2: Jen were literally the hottest couple of this whole entire era.
Speaker 2: And not only that were they the hottest couple, but
Speaker 2: they were absolutely harassed by paparazzi. They were obsessed with
Speaker 2: each other, but the paparazzi were also very very obsessed
Speaker 2: with them. It was a time that was before social media,
Speaker 2: but the Internet was on the rise and paparazzi photos
Speaker 2: were a currency that was everywhere. So when Ben and
Speaker 2: Jen realized that the peraps were absolutely obsessed with them.
Speaker 2: They had to go to some pretty extreme lengths to
Speaker 2: try and keep their wedding a secret. How's it going
Speaker 2: with the catering sorted and the seating arrangements?
Speaker 1: Is that are locked in, locked and loaded? And the
Speaker 1: decoy bride, she's been prepped. What about the second decoy
Speaker 1: bride also prepped? And the decoy bride?
Speaker 2: Well there's three now this is benefit of course, there
Speaker 2: are three decoy brides.
Speaker 1: Three decoy brides. I feel like that is a little
Speaker 1: bit excessive. And I don't even know how these people
Speaker 1: met yet.
Speaker 2: So they met on a very famous movie, but famous
Speaker 2: for all the wrong reasons.
Speaker 1: I know the one. What is it? That giggly movie?
Speaker 2: Okay, someone knows how to say everyone, and I thought
Speaker 2: it's it's giggly, right, I was like, oh, it's g
Speaker 2: g giggly movie.
Speaker 1: Apparently it's pronounced glee.
Speaker 2: Gili is a rom com which they both start in,
Speaker 2: except that it's not funny nor is it comical, so
Speaker 2: it's kind of failed at all fronts.
Speaker 1: It's supposed to be this like funny crime mystery being
Speaker 1: so bad, I remember, do you know what it's scored
Speaker 1: on Rotten Tomatoes they give it a legitimate presentiment six
Speaker 1: percent on Rotten. Tomatroows it had one point one star, like,
Speaker 1: you better know whatever, that must be the lowest that.
Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever heard of a six percent movie.
Speaker 2: You've got to remember that Ben Affleck at the time,
Speaker 2: he was the youngest writer to ever win the Best
Speaker 2: Original Screenplay Oscar for Goodwill Hunting along with Matt Damon.
Speaker 1: And the Oscar goes to Ben a Flack and math
Speaker 1: I just said that Matt losing would suck and winning
Speaker 1: would be really scary, and it's really really scary. That
Speaker 1: was such a brilliant movie.
Speaker 2: And he'd also just gotten his teeth fixed because he
Speaker 2: did Pearl Harbor.
Speaker 1: He was alive and well he was killing it.
Speaker 2: He was absolutely killing it, which is why he could
Speaker 2: command a twelve point five million dollar paycheck to do
Speaker 2: Jilly Yep Jiggli.
Speaker 1: You still got to deliver, though, just can't be like, OK, cool,
Speaker 1: I won an award. Now I'm just gonna be in
Speaker 1: all these flop movies.
Speaker 2: I guess it also just shows like, you know, you
Speaker 2: can't just put two massive stars and expect it to
Speaker 2: be an incredible movie.
Speaker 1: Well, in all honesty, and like, don't take it personally. Job,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to be a j Low if she's listening.
Speaker 1: I don't think she's a brilliant actress. I don't believe
Speaker 1: Brittany Hagley. I don't believe he as an actress. To me,
Speaker 1: she'll first and foremost be a performer in terms of
Speaker 1: her singing and dancing. So I think for me, it
Speaker 1: was always hard to see her in those movies, and
Speaker 1: I think probably the level of floppiness of the movie
Speaker 1: a lot of people feel the same. I think people
Speaker 1: watch her and they're not convinced. It was a total
Speaker 1: total disaster.
Speaker 2: Also, there was a lot of speculations around the reviews
Speaker 2: that their chemistry sucked, which is kind of funny because
Speaker 2: they ended up becoming actually together, but at the time
Speaker 2: Jlo was married and she was married to Chris Judd.
Speaker 1: And just to give you guys.
Speaker 2: Because I think it's always been so it's been such
Speaker 2: a point of speculation, the fact that Jennifer Lopez has
Speaker 2: been engaged so many times, she's been married so many times.
Speaker 1: I know that the media really quite enjoys. To man,
Speaker 1: I can't even get a boyfriend for longer than a
Speaker 1: year how are these people pumping through engagements in husband?
Speaker 1: Maybe that's Hollywood. I mean, I don't look like Jaylo.
Speaker 1: I don't have the money of jaalaaither, so I guess
Speaker 1: there's that. Don't cheat on yourself, Brittany, let's never punch
Speaker 1: down on us. I'm not a genuine question like why
Speaker 1: can I not do it? Okay?
Speaker 2: So just giving you giving you guys the background. So
Speaker 2: at the time, she was married to Chris Judd, So
Speaker 2: this is in two thousand and one to two thousand
Speaker 2: and two, they were only married for a year and
Speaker 2: at the back end of when the movie was being created,
Speaker 2: that is when things started to get a little bit
Speaker 2: close and comfortable between Ben and j Loo. Now they
Speaker 2: have both absolutely denied that there was any crossover between
Speaker 2: him and Chris.
Speaker 1: Judd, standard Hollywood behavior. She's said that she didn't cheat. However,
Speaker 1: Chris Judd's dad came out and said that there was
Speaker 1: definitely some overlaps. So I don't know who we're going
Speaker 1: to believe here, Chris Jodd's dad or Ben and Jen.
Speaker 1: I'm team Chris Judd's dad. And wait, wasn't Chris Judd
Speaker 1: her second marriage?
Speaker 2: Who was the first guy or is that like irrelevant,
Speaker 2: Not that it's irrelevant, but she was married to a
Speaker 2: guy named a Johnny Noah in nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 1: See when he's at home? Have you heard of him?
Speaker 1: He was a waiter, He was just a normal guy.
Speaker 2: I love that I was married to a normal Cuban
Speaker 2: waiter who spent one hundred thousand dollars on a wedding
Speaker 2: ring or engagement ring for her. And I'd like to
Speaker 2: know how does a normal waiter four one hundred thousand
Speaker 2: dollar wedding ring.
Speaker 1: Direction she slipped him some money to buy it? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think absolutely so.
Speaker 2: Even though Ben and Jaylo Head on Heart refuse that
Speaker 2: there was ever any overlap between their relationships, they're best friends, right.
Speaker 2: They're being very public in their conversations around how they're
Speaker 2: just such good friends. Never works, and they support each
Speaker 2: other so much. I'm like getting some like smoking similarities
Speaker 2: between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Speaker 1: Married adults don't become best friends with the opposite sex
Speaker 1: when they're filming with them all day without there being
Speaker 1: some slippery sliding going on.
Speaker 2: So, because Jen and Ben are best friends, he wants
Speaker 2: to show just how wonderful he thinks she is. And
Speaker 2: if you wanted to prove to your best friend that
Speaker 2: you thought that they were wonderful, if you wanted the
Speaker 2: whole world to know how amazing your best friend is,
Speaker 2: what would you do? What would be a normal thing?
Speaker 1: I mean these days, maybe put a post on Instagram. Well,
Speaker 1: let's be real.
Speaker 2: Ben goes one step further than that. Ben buys a
Speaker 2: full page in Variety to praise her after the film finishes.
Speaker 2: Like buys an ad? Buys an ad? He buys a
Speaker 2: full page ad? What to send a message to Jen?
Speaker 2: Did he have to buy?
Speaker 1: Actually? That hook you? Mob? I reckon? You bought it?
Speaker 1: What did the ad say? This is Variety magazine? Hi,
Speaker 1: this is Ben Affleck. Sure it is no, Really, this
Speaker 1: is Ben Affleck. I want to take on ad for
Speaker 1: what are you writing?
Speaker 4: Done?
Speaker 1: A little script or something?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: I don't want to take out an ad for Jennifer Lopez.
Speaker 1: You're trying to find j Lo. No, I just want
Speaker 1: to send her a message. Oh okay, what do you
Speaker 1: want it to say?
Speaker 3: You have shown great kindness, dedication, diligence, humility, graciousness of spirit,
Speaker 3: beauty and courage, great empathy, astonishing talent, real poise and
Speaker 3: true grace. It has been nothing but an honor and
Speaker 3: a pleasure to work with you. I only wish I
Speaker 3: were lucky enough to be in all your movies.
Speaker 1: Geez, she you're a girlfriend now or what? No? No, no, no?
Speaker 1: Oh right, all right, I'm just busting your balls. How
Speaker 1: do you want to sign it with love, respect, and gratitude?
Speaker 1: Ben Affleck? Okay, make it a full page dude, What
Speaker 1: the hell?
Speaker 4: Write a letter and send it to address Why do
Speaker 4: you need to put a public ad out that says
Speaker 4: your grace and humility?
Speaker 1: Isn't this crazy? So it's embarrassing. It is embarrassed. It's
Speaker 1: too much. Yeah, but this is weird because they're not
Speaker 1: even in a relationship yet. She's married, this is not
Speaker 1: for long. But well, evidently he paid a lot for
Speaker 1: that at and he ensured there was a divorce coming.
Speaker 1: And I think I sort of read some things about
Speaker 1: this about how strange it was that he put this
Speaker 1: ad out and the public was sort of like, why
Speaker 1: would you do this? Now he says it's just because
Speaker 1: he had such a close relationship with her, and that
Speaker 1: the public were always writing j Loo's back. They always
Speaker 1: said she was such a diva and she was hard
Speaker 1: to work with, and I guess he had these feelings
Speaker 1: deep down for her and he wanted to try and
Speaker 1: change the public's perception. So I'm taking the piss a
Speaker 1: little bit, being like, why would you take an ad out?
Speaker 1: But when I read that, I sort of understand that
Speaker 1: he obviously was developing feelings, was a bit protective of her,
Speaker 1: and he wanted the world to see what he saw.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but imagine if you were Chris jard You imagine
Speaker 2: if you were Jalo's husband and he's like, it's just
Speaker 2: my best friend, and I get like, there's one on
Speaker 2: one hand when you're writing like a nice like, Hey,
Speaker 2: thanks so much, it's been wonderful working together. I love
Speaker 2: your professionalism, Like there's different words that you would use
Speaker 2: to describe somebody in a work capacity.
Speaker 1: Mate, this is a hr disaster right here. And I
Speaker 1: only wish I were lucky enough to be in all
Speaker 1: your movies. Yeah, well, the durance know the directors are
Speaker 1: saying no, thank you because you are one big flop. Now.
Speaker 2: One of the things that's interesting about this, and that
Speaker 2: there has been lots of speculation, is that Jlo is
Speaker 2: a bit of a monkey Brancher. When it comes to relationships.
Speaker 1: We all know those people, don't we.
Speaker 2: Laura burn I feel personally victimized pretty huckly. But she
Speaker 2: certainly has one door closing as the other one opens,
Speaker 2: and that was very much the case in this relationship.
Speaker 2: So Jalo and Ben are seen kissing in public, and
Speaker 2: then it isn't until a couple of months later that
Speaker 2: she actually files for divorce with Chris Judd. So as
Speaker 2: far as public perception is aware, she's still married to
Speaker 2: Chris Judd.
Speaker 1: I guess we're never going to know, though, And you
Speaker 1: would like to think that if they were publicly, if
Speaker 1: they were happy enough to be publicly be seen that
Speaker 1: privately it's been called off. And I guess there is
Speaker 1: a level that we need to understand that they're not
Speaker 1: going to share every single thing. So maybe let's let's
Speaker 1: give it the benefit of doubt. That benefit, get it?
Speaker 1: How long have you been sitting on that? Actually that
Speaker 1: one just rolled out. Let's give them the benefit of
Speaker 1: the doubt and say that they had split.
Speaker 2: Okay, I mean, we'll never know because Jlo seems to
Speaker 2: have very very hard and fast relationships, which is why
Speaker 2: she's had six engagements and three marriages so far, and
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not shaming the woman, all the power
Speaker 2: to her. And also think it just goes to show
Speaker 2: that she was one hundred percent the most wanted woman
Speaker 2: in Hollywood at that point in time. Their relationship transpired
Speaker 2: so quickly. Within six months, Ben had proposed to Jlo
Speaker 2: and her divorce to Chris Judd wasn't even finalized yet,
Speaker 2: so she was already engaged before actually being divorced.
Speaker 1: I steel technically married. I mean, go for example, they
Speaker 1: live your best life. So it's literally been six months.
Speaker 1: In November of two thousand and two, that is when
Speaker 1: they publicly announced their engagement, and also when she starts
Speaker 1: rocking around in the infamous six carrot pink diamond ring.
Speaker 1: I remember that pink engagement ring. But what would that
Speaker 1: That had to have been millions, it was two point
Speaker 1: five million.
Speaker 2: It's insane at this point on her finger. I just
Speaker 2: imagine walking around with that level of liability. I wouldn't
Speaker 2: That's the thing. I wouldn't wear it because someone would
Speaker 2: steal it from you. But when you were at their
Speaker 2: level of success, I think it's like chomp changed. Do
Speaker 2: you mean like they were earning so much money per
Speaker 2: movie or per music video, and it was just like
Speaker 2: like two point five million dollars inconsequential.
Speaker 1: I remember the ring well, but what I remember more
Speaker 1: is the film quick that came out on the yacht.
Speaker 1: They just announced their engagement. People didn't even really know yet.
Speaker 1: And then there's that really famous scene of her big, beautiful,
Speaker 1: glorious booty and he kissed it and tapped it with
Speaker 1: his hand, tapped her button. That is what I remember
Speaker 1: of their relationship. It's like the number one thing. But
Speaker 1: don't you think it's so interesting? So this is Jenny
Speaker 1: from the Block, right, I do want to think of
Speaker 1: it for us, I'm still Jenny Frown the Black you
Speaker 1: used to have.
Speaker 2: A little The Jenny from the Block video caused so
Speaker 2: much controversy because people not a little controversy.
Speaker 1: People just wanted that insight. They wanted the voyeurism.
Speaker 2: And it was supposed to be satire, like it was
Speaker 2: supposed to be making fun of the fact that the
Speaker 2: paparazzi were always chasing them, but it almost did the
Speaker 2: opposite in that it gave people even more access to
Speaker 2: their relationship. And Ben Affleck came out and he said
Speaker 2: he said that he did Jenny from the Block, but
Speaker 2: he complained that everybody missed the point. The reason I
Speaker 2: did the video was a commentary on the crazy tabloid
Speaker 2: paparazzi attention, but it was covered without any irony whatsoever.
Speaker 2: We were trying to say, look at how silly this
Speaker 2: all is, while at the same time have fun and
Speaker 2: be a bit sexy.
Speaker 1: But then went on to say that it was one
Speaker 1: of the message you in their bench. We wanted to
Speaker 1: be satire but serious, but we also wanted them to
Speaker 1: know that not to take us seriously, not to chase us, but.
Speaker 2: We also wanted to be sexy, to be sexy as well,
Speaker 2: and to create some really stimulating conversation.
Speaker 1: Around the political world.
Speaker 2: He went on to say as well that that was
Speaker 2: the biggest regret from their relationship, that he felt like
Speaker 2: all that did was inspire and incite even more insight
Speaker 2: into their relationship.
Speaker 1: Well, I think this is why we became so obsessed
Speaker 1: with him, because we wanted more. We got a very
Speaker 1: public look at a very private moment what should be
Speaker 1: private between two people, and we became obsessed with it.
Speaker 1: This is hooked, hitched and hung up, and we're doing
Speaker 1: a deep dive into the ultimate one who got away
Speaker 1: and then got back together story Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez,
Speaker 1: and it's a good AKA benefit.
Speaker 2: So everybody's obsessed. But at the time Ben didn't get it.
Speaker 2: And I'm pretty interested in this because there's been some
Speaker 2: conflicting messaging and some conflicting quotes that have come out
Speaker 2: of Ben. But he says, I can promise you that
Speaker 2: our life together doesn't warrant it. We watch movies, we
Speaker 2: sit at home, we go out to dinner. It's more
Speaker 2: or less what everyone else does. There is a wall
Speaker 2: looming in the Middle East, Europe is redefining itself, America
Speaker 2: is in a recession. Sure, we're getting married, but I
Speaker 2: just can't understand why this isn't a page twenty item
Speaker 2: because of the degree to which it's been discussed. It
Speaker 2: has to have to do with something bigger and deeper
Speaker 2: than just two actors who are romantically involved, because how
Speaker 2: interesting is that really?
Speaker 1: That has a shelf life of about two weeks.
Speaker 2: I think it has to do with race and class,
Speaker 2: the fact that I'm white and she's Puerto Rican. That's
Speaker 2: what's underneath, although nobody said it because it's not politically correct.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's something to be said for that.
Speaker 1: I think back then that was probably there's a level
Speaker 1: of shock there that there was an interracial couple. Maybe
Speaker 1: it wasn't as popular back then and we didn't have
Speaker 1: as much access to it as we did. So if
Speaker 1: he feels that enough to comment, who are we to
Speaker 1: say that he's incorrect. That's obviously the impression that he's
Speaker 1: getting and he's the one in the relationship.
Speaker 2: There is another quote that comes from a Vanity Fair
Speaker 2: article which he did, which was like a full expose
Speaker 2: and very in depth around not just his relationship with
Speaker 2: j Lo, but his own personal life. And he talked
Speaker 2: about the amount of money that they make as a couple,
Speaker 2: and he said, it's the price of my privacy, the
Speaker 2: price of my life. It has to do with international exposure.
Speaker 2: It's somebody who can get in the papers, be on television,
Speaker 2: and draw attention to the movies. So he's talking about
Speaker 2: why he gets paid such huge dollars to be in movies.
Speaker 1: He says, you have to become a whole. Nobody's paying
Speaker 1: anybody money out of the goodness of their own heart.
Speaker 2: What is it worth to haul your private life? And
Speaker 2: have every aspect of it totally exposed. When you consider that,
Speaker 2: I feel like I'm underpaid. So he knows the benefits
Speaker 2: of exposing his personal life. Both of them are very savvy.
Speaker 2: They understand that by doing that they're increasing their own profiles.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is still early days for them to
Speaker 1: an extent. They know they want to be really famous.
Speaker 1: They're at that point where they don't know the price
Speaker 1: of being so public yet, which they learn very soon,
Speaker 1: very quickly. But at this point they want to be
Speaker 1: everywhere they want to be. Even if they don't understand it,
Speaker 1: they know that that's what sells, that's what's going to
Speaker 1: get them in the next movie. They're not silly.
Speaker 2: And what better way to get a year's worth of
Speaker 2: free publicity, you know, than to marry your a listic
Speaker 2: costar and throw a huge wedding for your family, your friends,
Speaker 2: and all of your closest paparazzi within one hundred miles.
Speaker 1: Probably unintentional, but hey, they were there.
Speaker 2: So it seems like all the pressure of organizing a
Speaker 2: wedding and having three decoy brides really got to Ben
Speaker 2: and Jen and they released a public statement, but basically
Speaker 2: just to summarize it, it was that the wedding itself
Speaker 2: had lost meaning to them in that what they wanted
Speaker 2: it to be, like a special romantic moment to share
Speaker 2: with their family and their friends, was no longer going
Speaker 2: to be that. When they got to the point where
Speaker 2: they had to hire the third decoy bride.
Speaker 1: That's really sad. Imagine, Like I guess it became a
Speaker 1: bit like a business transaction in the end, and.
Speaker 2: They couldn't leave the house. They're getting swamped by paparazzi
Speaker 2: wherever they left, Like, whatever they did together as a couple,
Speaker 2: you would know one hundred percent it was going to
Speaker 2: be the front page of a magazine. So they got
Speaker 2: together in two thousand and two, but by two thousand
Speaker 2: and four, the relationship was now own over. So let
Speaker 2: me get this straight.
Speaker 1: They canceled the wedding, and then what it's just done
Speaker 1: on the spot, Well, it wasn't just done.
Speaker 2: So basically they postponed the wedding in September of two
Speaker 2: thousand and three, and they said at the time that
Speaker 2: the media attention that was all the speculation around the
Speaker 2: wedding was too much and it was too overwhelming. However,
Speaker 2: it did also very much coincide at the same time
Speaker 2: that all the shitty reviews came out for Jiggly or
Speaker 2: Glee or whatever the hell we want to call it.
Speaker 1: It's typically not Jiggly, but that's what we'll call it.
Speaker 1: It was just like the movie was so poorly received.
Speaker 2: Not only was it poorly received, but there were so
Speaker 2: many critics saying that they had absolutely no chemistry on screen.
Speaker 2: Can you imagine having like your relationship on screen and
Speaker 2: everybody saying that.
Speaker 1: You would terrible actors together? It would be horrible, but
Speaker 1: obsolutely horrible, even just to get terrible active even if
Speaker 1: you weren't in a relationship on screen. It's like, no
Speaker 1: wants that.
Speaker 2: So by January two thousand and four, they had then
Speaker 2: announced that they had officially ended their engagement and they
Speaker 2: both had parted ways.
Speaker 1: It's actually really sad because I feel like it just
Speaker 1: happened really fast, and they it's almost like they weren't
Speaker 1: given a chance. But I wonder if they actually knew
Speaker 1: it was over when they postponed the wedding, or do
Speaker 1: you think that they were actually going to try and
Speaker 1: give it a crack and revisit the wedding.
Speaker 2: I mean there's speculation about it, but I think at
Speaker 2: the time, if you're going to postpone your wedding and
Speaker 2: then very shortly afterwards actually announced that you've broken up,
Speaker 2: you're not just postponing the wedding because the media attention's
Speaker 2: too heavy. You're postponing the wedding because maybe the relationship is.
Speaker 1: On the rocks. You got some cracks for sure. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so I guess this is where benefit into stage left.
Speaker 2: Well, this is where benefit turns into a whole new benefit.
Speaker 2: He just literally takes out this one Jennifer and pops in.
Speaker 1: A new Jennifer hashtag Benefit two point zero.
Speaker 2: Ben goes on to get married to Jennifer Garner very
Speaker 2: shortly afterwards. Literally only a year later was he engaged
Speaker 2: to Jennifer Garner. And within six months of Jlo and
Speaker 2: Ben Affleck breaking up, June two thousand and four is
Speaker 2: when Jlo actually gets married to Mark Anthony.
Speaker 1: So not engaged, getting married within six months after losing
Speaker 1: the love of her life, She's married. And you've got
Speaker 1: to remember that she was also engaged to Ben Affleck
Speaker 1: before her divorce to Chris Judd was finalized. Either the
Speaker 1: chick loves to be married. I'm calling it Jlo's needy.
Speaker 2: She is Is she needed to be in relationships or
Speaker 2: is she just that wanted?
Speaker 1: Like I think about think about it, because this is her.
Speaker 1: She's choosing to marry these people. You could date someone
Speaker 1: for sure, but she's marrying, divorcing, splitting, engaged, splitting married totally.
Speaker 2: But she has to get proposed to like these men
Speaker 2: are so willing to like, like, I've never had a
Speaker 2: guy proposed to me within six months?
Speaker 4: Have you?
Speaker 1: I mean, you weren't that far off? I think you
Speaker 1: know the answer for me, I was pregnant within a year.
Speaker 1: Actually I take that back exactly, but I think I mean,
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, she obviously likes relationships.
Speaker 1: Who are we to judge good on her? And then
Speaker 1: she and she ended up being with him for a
Speaker 1: long time. Mark Anthony. Hey, she had twins and I
Speaker 1: remember she had little she's they're beautiful now they're older now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they have two kids together. But she always did
Speaker 2: speak so fondly about Ben Affleck. She spoke about him
Speaker 2: even like whilst they were married, her and Mark Anthony
Speaker 2: were married, she would refer to Ben Affleck as her
Speaker 2: first true love.
Speaker 1: So moving on.
Speaker 2: Over a decade, both Ben and Jlo have been in
Speaker 2: completely different relationships. They've been married, They've had children, they
Speaker 2: have lived separate lives, and have created families both separately,
Speaker 2: and have also spoken about their partners with such love
Speaker 2: and affection. I think like when you look at videos
Speaker 2: between Ben Affleck and Jennifer Ghana, he seems and comes
Speaker 2: across as the most wonderfully doting father and husband at
Speaker 2: the time. And also jay Loo seems so incredibly invested
Speaker 2: in her relationship with Mark Anthony.
Speaker 1: It's stable.
Speaker 2: They've got a beautiful family together. However, as we know,
Speaker 2: things weren't exactly as they seem, and in twenty fifteen,
Speaker 2: Ben and Jennifer Gana announced their divorce.
Speaker 1: Ah, so that's where all these sad Ben memes came from.
Speaker 2: Poor little sad Ben Affleck with his big phoenix tattoo.
Speaker 1: You remember when that all happened, when you were like,
Speaker 1: I don't. I remember seeing a photo of him one
Speaker 1: day on the beach with no shirt on it, and
Speaker 1: I was like, what is on his wa is he doing?
Speaker 1: Why did he do that shit tag? I was like,
Speaker 1: did that man rolling ash?
Speaker 2: I couldn't really see, Okay, but also this all came
Speaker 2: and the sad Ben memes came from a very famous
Speaker 2: interview that he did when he was promoting Batman versus
Speaker 2: Superman and he was sitting there just staring off into
Speaker 2: the abyss. He the astral Plane for a moment in
Speaker 2: Phoenix Plane.
Speaker 1: He checked out. Life was too much for him and
Speaker 1: he was I mean, he came out later he was
Speaker 1: he was really sad. He was really depressed and at
Speaker 1: a really low point of his life.
Speaker 2: Well, there was also photos of him that came out
Speaker 2: where he was like carrying like a horde of Duncan donuts.
Speaker 1: There was another one of him sitting and not be
Speaker 1: hating on him for the Dunkin donuts. We've all been there,
Speaker 1: we've all been there. But there was another one who's
Speaker 1: sitting in his car like vaping. And the paparazzi shots
Speaker 1: that came out and around the twenty sixteen mark when
Speaker 1: things were really going bad for him. This is like
Speaker 1: after his divorce with Jennifer Garner, and it was like
Speaker 1: the wheels were well and truly falling off the bandwagon.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm going to relate to him little bit.
Speaker 1: I've gone through a break up the last couple of months,
Speaker 1: and you're seen vaping in your car. Hey, pretty Hockley
Speaker 1: sad vaping in a car.
Speaker 2: But you know what one thing you haven't done, Brett
Speaker 2: in the throes of a bad breakup. You haven't gotten
Speaker 2: a full back tattoo.
Speaker 1: You haven't seen my back lately.
Speaker 2: All right, So I'm sure that you guys have all
Speaker 2: seen this photo of Ben. Now he's standing there at
Speaker 2: the beach, looking out forlorn into the ocean, mindful, a
Speaker 2: little bit sad thinking. But this is the first time
Speaker 2: that we have seen a glimpse of whatever it is
Speaker 2: that he's done to his back. There is a phoenix
Speaker 2: that is creeping up literally from his butt crack all
Speaker 2: the way up and across his right shoulder.
Speaker 1: Okay, why.
Speaker 2: When the external world crumbles around you, the only solution is.
Speaker 1: To go inward, fine solace, get to know yourself, find peace,
Speaker 1: and get a back tattoo. Have you seen Madam is disgusting.
Speaker 1: It's so ugly. He's the haudliest tattoo. Go through a
Speaker 1: midlife class. It's okay, we'll get that like cute little
Speaker 1: love heart tattoo on your little pinky. You know, I
Speaker 1: broon't gets something like that, like a broken heart or something,
Speaker 1: but like it was so ugly actually that the first
Speaker 1: time there was a pap barazzi photo, everyone started around
Speaker 1: the world. So I had to write him off about it,
Speaker 1: and he was so embarrassed. He was like he pretended
Speaker 1: it was fake. He's like, oh, I've got it for
Speaker 1: a movie. It's just like drawn on. But then years
Speaker 1: went past, it was still there. It was like, bro like,
Speaker 1: just admit it. This is this is real.
Speaker 2: There's actually this great quote of his where he said, yes,
Speaker 2: he's he's like, in some aspects, my life went to shit,
Speaker 2: which is why I got a phoenix rising out of
Speaker 2: my arm.
Speaker 1: Well played, Ben, well played? But keep that shirt off? Well.
Speaker 1: Isn't it interesting? Though? Because Jaylo announced her divorce from
Speaker 1: Mark Anthony in twenty eleven, So I am wondering if
Speaker 1: our friend Ben took a little bit of inspiration and
Speaker 1: was like, oh, the love of my life is back
Speaker 1: on the market, maybe I should do the same.
Speaker 2: No, do you reckon that they spent it there? I
Speaker 2: don't think they would have spent all this time pining together.
Speaker 2: I just think that maybe there was like.
Speaker 1: Well she said he was the love of her life,
Speaker 1: So the first love of her life, but maybe that
Speaker 1: there was like it was do you think it was
Speaker 1: more opportunistic than what it was deliberate? Look, I'm just
Speaker 1: throwing a question out mate.
Speaker 2: After well, you would think that maybe at this point
Speaker 2: in time they were getting back together, but it wasn't.
Speaker 1: Absolutely wasn't the case.
Speaker 2: So this is still in twenty fifteen, and during this time,
Speaker 2: Jaylo then goes on to get into a relationship with
Speaker 2: Standard with shock horror, I know, right, like she is
Speaker 2: in relationships way more than what she's single, but also
Speaker 2: like it's like she's literally not single. I don't know,
Speaker 2: like these guys have to slide into her dms within
Speaker 2: a week of her being single because she snapped up already. Well,
Speaker 2: I think that's what happened. I think a rod her
Speaker 2: next love slid into a dam mate. It's just the
Speaker 2: modern day love story, isn't it. And it is a
Speaker 2: modern day love story because apparently he cheated on and
Speaker 2: there were lots of speculation around that and they were
Speaker 2: supposed to be getting married. There was an engagement there
Speaker 2: and shit really hit the fan. Okay, well, how much
Speaker 2: was that engagementy? I think five million.
Speaker 1: What'sn't really? Yeah, So she's she's going up in the world.
Speaker 1: She's moving up in the world with every engagement with
Speaker 1: the rings.
Speaker 2: They started off at a one hundred thousand dollars with
Speaker 2: her very first fiance slash husband, which was a Johnny
Speaker 2: Noah and Noah even knows about whoho that guy is.
Speaker 1: Did you just make shramming a pun? Yes? I did.
Speaker 2: And then there was another one hundred thousand dollars which
Speaker 2: came from Chris Judd, which was her second husband, and
Speaker 2: then it really skyrocketed. It went to two point five million,
Speaker 2: which came from Ben Affleck. Then it went to four
Speaker 2: million from Marc Anthony so a Rod who was the
Speaker 2: fifth guy that she was engaged to. Somehow, it's been
Speaker 2: reported that the ring that he purchased is anywhere between
Speaker 2: one million and five million. Now that is a very
Speaker 2: big discrepancy, and maybe that's why the relationship didn't work out.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm gonna guess is probably not the five million mark,
Speaker 1: which she probably would have married him, was probably less
Speaker 1: sick maybe. So obviously we're going to talk about how
Speaker 1: Ben and Jen get back together in a hot second,
Speaker 1: But first I want to talk about this big fuck
Speaker 1: off ring that she is wearing on a finger that
Speaker 1: Ben gave her.
Speaker 2: So the second ring, the second No, this is the
Speaker 2: second ring, which I think is bigger than the first one.
Speaker 1: We'll buy from you know, my my eye, it looks
Speaker 1: bigger than the first one.
Speaker 2: So this ring is a ten million dollar really ugly
Speaker 2: green diamond.
Speaker 1: Apparently it's really rare. But you know what they say,
Speaker 1: money color by taste. Hang on, you just skipped past
Speaker 1: to something that I'm picking my drop off the ground.
Speaker 1: Ten million dollars, Takailston powers. She's walking around with a
Speaker 1: ten million dollar ring on her finger. Well, it's like.
Speaker 2: Every single engagement has gone up incrementally, so it had
Speaker 2: to get bigger and bigger and bigger.
Speaker 1: This is sort of borderline, like I'm tempted to rob her.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to formulate a plan.
Speaker 4: I will take you down, Jaylo. I'm Brittany from the
Speaker 4: block as well. Actually, where the hell is she wears
Speaker 4: the perhaps I'm going.
Speaker 1: Now she's left a rod. When does she get back
Speaker 1: together in her very public loving relationship now with Ben
Speaker 1: Affleck for the second time? So what was the period there?
Speaker 2: So they broke up in twenty twenty one, and in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one, Ben Affleck slides into the DMS of Jlo.
Speaker 2: Being that they're both single, he really takes like an
Speaker 2: old Shakespeare approach and starts sending her emails.
Speaker 1: At least he didn't take a full page dad out
Speaker 1: this time. At least he's learned something so like fits
Speaker 1: some privacy.
Speaker 2: But yeah, so he starts sending her emails and that's
Speaker 2: how they keep in contact over the space of a
Speaker 2: couple of months.
Speaker 1: And then the details around.
Speaker 2: When they actually started dating are pretty unclear. But it
Speaker 2: isn't until July twenty twenty one that they take their
Speaker 2: relationship that's probably been going on for a couple of
Speaker 2: months in private.
Speaker 1: They make it very public.
Speaker 2: Jen posts a carousel to Instagram and it's like all
Speaker 2: these beautiful photos of herself on a yacht enjoying her
Speaker 2: fifty second birthday, and then the last photo in the
Speaker 2: carousel reel is a photo of Jen and Ben kissing,
Speaker 2: and it blows the Internet up iconic.
Speaker 1: Have you seen it? Yeah, I've seen it. I've I've
Speaker 1: seen it. Hello took before research, No, I just took
Speaker 1: the world by storm. I remember thinking they weren't actually
Speaker 1: back together. I remember thinking, cute, they're having a fling.
Speaker 1: I didn't think that they were going to be like
Speaker 1: this whole other relationship again round two. Well, and they've been.
Speaker 1: They've been caught out.
Speaker 2: Like it's not like this was the first time that
Speaker 2: anybody had seen them together. They had been pat photos,
Speaker 2: they had been caught out meeting up in La and
Speaker 2: their commentary towards media was that they were just good
Speaker 2: friends catching up. But now it was like that was official.
Speaker 2: And I love the way that they did it in
Speaker 2: this like very bread crumbing way. So it was like
Speaker 2: several posts and then it was the last photo of
Speaker 2: a carousel.
Speaker 1: Real you know, she just wants to check that people
Speaker 1: sliding through her whole carousel.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she needs the engagement, like go through all of them.
Speaker 2: Then please leave a comment, thanks very much, like swipe
Speaker 2: believe a fire emoji.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is what I'm thinking right now. You'd
Speaker 1: think that they would have learnt from their past, like
Speaker 1: they complained they called off their first wedding because there
Speaker 1: was too much public attention. There was too much scrutiny,
Speaker 1: too many people chasing them and turn into a business transaction.
Speaker 1: Fast forward twenty years and you're doing the same thing.
Speaker 1: You've just put it back on Instagram and made it public. Okay.
Speaker 2: But the question is, and to their defense, if they
Speaker 2: didn't make it public in some way, would that mean
Speaker 2: that the public, like the scrutiny of the paparazzi, would
Speaker 2: be even greater because they'd be chasing them trying to
Speaker 2: get at the photo. Because you know what it's like now,
Speaker 2: like if you say, yeah, yes this happened, the media
Speaker 2: goes crazy for two weeks and then it kind of
Speaker 2: goes away. So do you think that maybe they were
Speaker 2: already being followed. There was already so much speculation that
Speaker 2: they were together, that they were like, okay, let's just
Speaker 2: like drop the bomb and get on with our lives.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but they're not dumb. There is no drop it
Speaker 1: and get on with their lives. Like this is it now.
Speaker 1: They have to know that once it's out, they'll be
Speaker 1: harassed for eternity.
Speaker 2: And I do think it's so I mean, this is
Speaker 2: what I mean by it's like the irony of Ben
Speaker 2: Affleck and j Lo. They have lived the life two
Speaker 2: decades ago they got the opportunity of being together and
Speaker 2: this is like the crazy, amazing redemption story. This whole
Speaker 2: idea of like that maybe she's the one that got
Speaker 2: away and they got a second chance at this relationship
Speaker 2: and they get a second chance to do it differently.
Speaker 1: Well, maybe this is really pushing the narrative that there
Speaker 1: can be the right people at the wrong time. And
Speaker 1: I mean, like, I'm always on the fence about that.
Speaker 1: I've always been like, oh, if it's the wrong time,
Speaker 1: is it just the wrong person. But they've come full circle.
Speaker 1: It's been twenty years. We don't know. Look, we don't
Speaker 1: know if they're going to live happily ever after. We're
Speaker 1: never gonna be able to know that. But they have
Speaker 1: come back. They've moved in together recently, they've just moved
Speaker 1: into like a ridiculously big mansion. It's looking like they're
Speaker 1: finally found them happy ever after. But I'll be interested
Speaker 1: to see what happens and if they do split, who
Speaker 1: she's going to marry in six months time.
Speaker 2: You would think that with everything that they had learned
Speaker 2: from their first relationship, all the mistakes that they'd made,
Speaker 2: that maybe they would do things differently the second time around,
Speaker 2: you know, twenty years later, And it's something that we've
Speaker 2: talked about in life on cut before. It's like, if
Speaker 2: you're going to give your relationship, like an ex relationship,
Speaker 2: a second chance, things have to be fundamentally different for
Speaker 2: them to end up being happy together. If you're revisiting
Speaker 2: a relationship this second time around, I hope to god
Speaker 2: you've taken something from the first time because it didn't work.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: They do say when you know better, you do better,
Speaker 2: but not if you're Jen and Ben. So you know
Speaker 2: how the first time he starred in the Jenny from
Speaker 2: the Block movie or film clip, whatever you want to
Speaker 2: call it, and he was slapping her on the bart
Speaker 2: and then he said that he opened up his relationship
Speaker 2: too much. It was the worst mistake he'd made in
Speaker 2: his relationship. Well, he's just recently starred in her new
Speaker 2: film Clear, which is called Marry Me, for the movie
Speaker 2: that she's doing, which is also called Marry Me.
Speaker 1: But is this history repeating itself.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say yes, because they're literally pimping out their
Speaker 2: relationship for their work again.
Speaker 1: I just think these people are so obsessed with notoriety
Speaker 1: and love and attention that they don't know how to
Speaker 1: live without it. And I think that they think they
Speaker 1: don't want it, and they try and become recluse and
Speaker 1: going to hiding for a hot second, and they miss
Speaker 1: it and then boom back in another film Clep.
Speaker 2: I feel like there's this real, like school, like high
Speaker 2: school excitement about their relationship, like the fact that they've
Speaker 2: like been able to fall in love again a second
Speaker 2: time around. There must be this incredible validation that comes
Speaker 2: with being able to tell the world and being able
Speaker 2: to be like, see, we proved you all wrong. We're
Speaker 2: back together. It's just like they're walking down the same
Speaker 2: road that they've done before.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and maybe the fact that they're a bit older now,
Speaker 1: they've lived a life, they're in their fifties. Maybe they
Speaker 1: feel like the media storm isn't going to be the same.
Speaker 1: Maybe they think everyone's gonna be happy for us and
Speaker 1: then move on because there's all these the young hot
Speaker 1: guns that are driving all the attention, and we can
Speaker 1: only hope that that's the case. They have had a
Speaker 1: lot of attention up until now. Maybe they're actually not
Speaker 1: getting enough attention and that's why they're putting out the
Speaker 1: film clip. Maybe they're like, well, why is everyone peering off?
Speaker 2: They're like, I'm sorry, we were used to getting a
Speaker 2: lot more than this last time, I need to tap
Speaker 2: some assa or well, there was actually a photo of him,
Speaker 2: they've been papped on a boat and he was like
Speaker 2: kissing j Lo's beautiful bass and it was like they
Speaker 2: were recreating that moment from Jenny from the Block.
Speaker 1: Absolutely and they did they a one hundred percent you
Speaker 1: what they were.
Speaker 2: Doing that is you And you know you know when
Speaker 2: you're on a yacht that there's a paparazzi down there
Speaker 2: taking photos of yourself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're in the exact same position of the first
Speaker 1: photo that went viral, Like the first that exact moment.
Speaker 1: They've recreated it. They knew what it was going to do.
Speaker 1: They love the attention, but you know what, good luck
Speaker 1: to them. I hope that she's finally found anyone.
Speaker 2: And that is there from Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.
Speaker 2: Done and dusted. You are welcome and who knows what
Speaker 2: will happen next with this redemption story for the ones
Speaker 2: who got away.
Speaker 1: Hooked, Hitched and hung Up is a podcast from iHeart
Speaker 1: Podcast Australia, dead Set Studios and the Kiss Network.
Speaker 2: Make sure you hit follow on your podcast app. There
Speaker 2: are plenty of juicy episodes headed your way.
Speaker 1: See you next time for some more breakups and makeups,
Speaker 1: and for some sex and romance.